Media outlets reported that 15-year-old student Khaled Abdel-Ghani was detained because he had in his possession a ruler with the Rabaa logo on it. The news is no different from other reports of repression filling the pages of Egyptian newspapers (...)
Religion was not an issue at the start of Arab Spring revolutions three years ago. Islamist groups and parties were not key instigators of these revolutions, but one of several forces that benefited from the overthrow of corrupt and oppressive (...)
Since the 3 July coup, the Muslim Brotherhood has not altered its mindset or rethought its strategy of how to deal with the new environment ensuing losing power. It was sufficient to only hold demonstrations, mobilise and attempt to thwart the coup (...)
The actions of the civil political elite in Egypt have not ceased to amaze since the 3 July coup. Events over the past months have proven that their actions are not based on any moral or value-based system but more an expression of political (...)
As a result of the dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins, Egypt now has entered a vicious circle of bloody confrontation. No one knows when and how it will stop.
Egypt's ongoing crisis betrays a profoundly divided environment with ideological, identity and (...)
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the collapse of the regime and the opposition in Egypt. And it came true. I warned that the failure of the regime and opposition in resolving their differences threatened the democratic experiment in Egypt and will push (...)
The political crisis in Egypt reached gridlock and the army intervened once again to find a resolution. This has triggered much speculation about the fate of President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood
The 48-hour deadline the army gave President (...)
Since I returned to Cairo several weeks ago, I have heard nothing but the drums of the upcoming war that the opposition and regime are preparing for on 30 June.
I am dismayed by the tone of political and media discourse from both camps, which has (...)
I find no rhyme or reason for the ecstasy of some intellectuals in the Arab world over protests in Turkey against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) there, except a desire to gloat over Arab Islamists who reached power in the past two (...)
The news item read: “Hussein Salem decided to hand over 75 per cent of his wealth inside Egypt and 55 per cent of his fortune abroad in return for his name being removed from the wanted list and ending the legal pursuit of him and his family.”
To (...)
The theory of inclusion/moderation posits that the more ideologically fanatical parties are included in the political process, the more rational their conduct becomes. This has not been the case with the Muslim Brotherhood
Since Egypt's January 25 (...)
Away from the current controversy between the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and other political forces, there is a dire need to seriously and realistically rethink the MB. Not only because it is the major power ruling Egypt right now, but also to (...)
“Egyptians will not be fooled into participating in a fake democracy, regardless of the internal and external pressures,” opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said, in response to US Secretary of State John Kerry's call for opposition parties to take (...)
Numbers can tell us quite a bit about the state of Islamists on the second anniversary of the revolution. There are now about 20 Islamist-oriented parties that are either officially registered or in the process of completing their paperwork. There (...)
The battle of the Egyptian constitution ended up in a majority of voters, nearly two-thirds, voting yes for the constitution in a referendum in which the turnout was less than 40 per cent. The battle left the nation with a gaping wound in its (...)
The violence and slaughter that erupted in front of Al-Ittihadiya presidential palace in Egypt was a vision of man in his primordial state of nature, or what Thomas Hobbes described as the “war of all against all”. The result was eight dead and (...)
The Arab Spring of democracy has deteriorated into a winter of mangled hopes. At the heart of the growing disappointment is the zealous portrayal of Sharia — Islamic law — as a political cause, as something to be enforced rather than experienced, as (...)
The politics of religion is more complex than the Salafis thought when they jumped into the ring last year,
notes Khalil Al-Anani
"Together on the road to Paradise", you are told at the website of Al-Daawa Al-Salafiya, or the Salafist Calling, the (...)
Do the Islamists who rose to power on the back of the Arab Spring have any novel economic ideas, asks Khalil Al-Anani*
It is curious that in spite of the fact that Islamists have reached power in a number of Arab countries they have yet to outline (...)
There are Islamists, and there are Islamists - the presidential hopeful Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh presents a version of the Islamist movement far more amenable than that of the Muslim Brotherhood from which he resigned
Away from the the presidential (...)
DURHAM: When I left Egypt two weeks before the revolution, Egyptians were not allowed to discuss three issues publicly: politics, religion and sex. However, after two weeks in post-Jan. 25 Cairo, I realized that these taboos have become obsolete. A (...)
The gray-bearded sheikh has appealed to his presidential candidate counterparts to join him at a press conference to be held in his regular mosque. While his contenders eluded, the sheikh stood amid hundreds of his followers and supporters to (...)
The mere result of the constant clashes between protesters and the remnants of Mubarak's regime in the Ministry of Interior is radicalizing the Egyptian public. The irresponsible reaction of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme (...)
Despite its stunning victory in the recent parliamentary elections, the image of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) among revolutionary Egyptians has been badly shaken. The recent clashes between the movement's youth, who went to Tahrir Square to celebrate (...)
Many have laid blame on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) for failing to join the protesters in Tahrir Square following the eruption of the recent clashes with security forces. Worthy to mention, it was one of the most critical moments the MB has ever (...)